The author of the letter, I. A. Semenyakov, a communist, Red Army soldier, and food supply worker from the Don region, came to Moscow with the specific aim of informing Lenin about cases of abuse of authority, embezzlement, and mismanagement by food supply workers and responsible communists in the Don region. In his letter, I. A. Semenyakov asked Lenin to take immediate measures to put an end to these irregularities, which were giving "cause for various uprisings of workers and toiling peasants." The concerned tone of Lenin's letter is explained by Semenyakov's postscript that he would "wait three days" for Lenin's resolution: "If there is none, then I shall depart this world."